The Chicago Machine is still alive!

I went in person to register to vote at 69 West Washington before the original deadline. The lady at the office looked at my application, which I had downloaded and filled out ahead of time, and asked for my driver's license. She took my license, copied down the number, made a photocopy, and told me to check for my voter card in the mail. I was in and out in a matter of seconds. Wow! There must be a catch!

Heh...indeed, there was.

This past Friday, I received an envelope in the mail from the board of elections. Was it my voter card? Noooooooooooooo. It was a letter informing me that my registration did not go through because my application was missing some information, specifically my driver's license number.

Okay, now go back and read that first paragraph again.

What's wrong with this picture? One of my coworkers suggested that perhaps I voted against Daley at some point in my life. Well, that's not true, because I never voted in Chicago...partly because the city wouldn't LET me vote.

Oh...and what's more...the letter, which I received on Friday, January 18. And I work full-time, which means I didn't get the letter until after all the offices had closed. And the letter informed me that I had until January 22 to register.

Guess what I spent my lunch break doing.

I love Chicago, but if the entire government went up in flames, I'd be a very happy man.